Alibaba Creates 'Video Fingerprints' to Fight Piracy

In a bid to curb piracy, China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has come up with 'video fingerprints' technology that gives each original video a unique online identity.

Short videos have become a popular form of advertisement for sellers on Alibaba's e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall. But the videos are often left unpatented due to a cumbersome process, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.

To curb this malpractice, Alibaba's security lab has created 'fingerprints' for all original videos on Taobao and Tmall, said He Yuan, a senior algorithm expert at the lab.

The fingerprints can be used to identify the video even if it is trimmed or its images modified, he added.

Businesses participating in the project can upload their videos and have 'fingerprints' generated automatically. Once qualified as an original video, any other videos with high similarity will be reported to the business owner.

After being online for about a month, more than 7,000 businesses have signed up to participate in the project, said Alibaba.